GRAND LEDGE - A local arts nonprofit needs to raise $10,000 by the end of June to buy the building it's been occupying in the city's downtown for more than four decades.

Ledge Craft Lane has leased its home base at 120 S. Bridge St. from the city since 1975. It doubles as an art gallery/boutique and lesson space for the nonprofit. The organization displays and sells the work of 70 different artists there.

The two-story, century-old building once served as the Grand Ledge fire barn. In the 1940s it was home to the city offices and, for a time, the police department.

Now Shirley Waldrop, Ledge Craft Lane's president, said the art group aims to take city officials up on an offer they made in January to sell it to them for $20,000.

The group's leadership voted to move forward with the purchase Monday, she said.

A private donor and former Grand Ledge resident has offered to contribute $10,000 toward the purchase.

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At Ledge Craft Lane in Grand Ledge hobby artists work on projects during a class April 14, 2015. The nonprofit needs to raise $10,000 by the end of June to buy the building it occupies on Bridge Street.(Photo: Rachel Greco/Lansing State Journal)

Waldop said that gives the nonprofit about a month a half to raise another $10,000. With a volunteer board and modest budget of less than $30,000 a year, she said the group needs community support to get there.

"We'd like to raise more than that so we have a cushion to do maintenance work on the building," she said.

Grand Ledge Mayor Kalmin Smith said selling the aging building to Ledge Craft Lane is the ideal scenario for the city.

"I think they're a very valuable asset to the city," he said. "We want them to stay there, that's for sure."

Waldrop said Ledge Craft Lane's sponsorship of the annual Island Art Fair, a juried fine arts and craft show hosted in Grand Ledge, brings in an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people to the city every year.

The group hosts several art lessons, for children and adults, at the building. Now they're focused on bringing in a younger clientele of shoppers, Waldrop said, and refurbishing the building.

Grand Ledge City Administrator Adam Smith said Tuesday the City Council could vote on the potential sale of the building to Ledge Craft Lane at its June 11 meeting.

"The potential sale resolution was introduced last evening and is subject to a 28-day waiting period," Adam Smith said in an email to the State Journal.

Waldrop said the nonprofit is soliciting donations to help pay for the purchase of the building. Checks can be made out to "Ledge Craft Lane" and sent to the group at 120 S. Bridge St., Grand Ledge.

Ledge Craft Lane can be reached at 627-9843. Visit them on-line at www.ledgecraftlane.com and find them on Facebook by searching for “Ledge Craft Lane.”

Contact Rachel Greco at (517) 528-2075 or rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ.